Dhat-Badan (Sabaean: 𐩹𐩩𐩽𐩨𐩲𐩵𐩬), Dhat-hami, or Zat-Badar, ´She of the Wild Goats` and ´She of the Sanctuary', was a Himyarite goddess.
Dhat-Badan was a nature goddess of the oasis, nature, and the wet season worshipped at tree-circled pools throughout the region of ancient Yemen, Somalia, and Ethiopia.
She was said to forbid any invocation to her when there was no seeress or priestess present in her sanctuary. This priestess was called a ḥlmt, literally 'Dreamer'. In the sanctuary, the priestess would lie down and sleep before the sacred tree(s) of the goddess to receive an oracle in the form of a prophetic dream.
She was a popular goddess of the polytheists of Axum. The she-ibex was sacred to her and it was said that an island in the Red Sea inhabited by ibexes was under her protection.
References
- Forlong, John G.R., Encyclopedia of Religions, 2008
- Müller, Walter W. Zwei sabäische Votivinschriften an die Sonnengöttin: Nami 74 und Yemen Museum 1965 (Paris: P. Geuthner, 1987), p. 64, as cited in Hoyland, Robert G. "Arabia and the Arabs : from the Bronze Age to the coming of Islam." (London; New York : Routledge, 2001), pg. 159-60.
- Müller 1987, p. 64
- "Arabian Paganism: Mythology and religion of pre-Islamic Arabia: Deities, Spirits, Figures and Locations". 9 November 2011.
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